TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas could soon offer up to $5 million in grants to schools to equip surveillance cameras with artificial intelligence systems that can detect people with guns. However, the governor must approve the spending and schools must meet some very specific criteria.
The AI software must be patented, labeled “qualified counterterrorism technology,” meet certain security industry standards, already in operate in at least 30 states, and be able to recognize “three broad firearm classifications with at least 300 subclassifications.” among other things, “at least 2,000 permutations”.
Currently, only one company meets all of those criteria: the same organization that recommended it to Kansas lawmakers who shape the state budget. This company, ZeroEyes, is a fast-growing company founded by military veterans after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
The legislation pending before Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly highlights two things. After numerous high-profile shootings, school security has become a multi-billion dollar industry. And in the state capitals, some companies are managing to convince political decision-makers to enshrine their special corporate solutions in state laws.
ZeroEyes also appears to be the only company qualified for federal firearms detection programs under laws passed in Michigan and Utah last year, bills passed in Florida and Iowa earlier this year, and proposed legislation in Colorado, Louisiana and Wisconsin.
On Friday, Missouri became the latest state to pass a ZeroEyes-focused law, offering schools $2.5 million in grants to purchase firearm detection software, described as “qualified anti-terrorism technology.”
“We don’t pay legislators to include us in their bills,” said Sam Alaimo, co-founder and chief revenue officer of ZeroEyes. But “if they do that, I think that means they’re doing their homework and making sure they’re getting tested technology.”
ZeroEyes uses artificial intelligence with surveillance cameras to identify apparent weapons, then sends an alert to a 24-hour operations center staffed by former police officers and military veterans. If ZeroEyes employees determine there is a legitimate threat, an alert will be sent to school administrators and local authorities.
The goal is to “get the gun before the trigger is pulled or before the gun reaches the door,” Alaimo said.
Few question the technology. But some question the legislative tactics.
The super-specific Kansas bill — particularly the requirement that a company offer its products in at least 30 states — is “probably the most egregious thing I’ve ever read in the legislation,” said Jason Stoddard, director of school safety for Charles Public Schools county in Maryland.
Stoddard is chairman of the newly formed National Council of School Safety Directors, created to set standards for school safety officers and push back against vendors increasingly pitching certain products to lawmakers.
When states allocate millions of dollars to certain products, there is often less money left over for other crucial school security measures, such as electronic door locks, shatterproof windows, communications systems and security guards, he said.
“Artificial intelligence-driven weapon detection is absolutely wonderful,” Stoddard said. “But it’s probably not the priority that 95% of schools in the United States need right now.”
The technology can also be steep, which is why some states are introducing funding programs. In Florida, legislation to introduce ZeroEyes technology in schools cost a total of about $929,000 in just two counties.
ZeroEyes is not the only company using artificial intelligence surveillance systems to detect weapons. A competitor, Omnilert, moved from emergency alert systems to firearm detection several years ago and also offers 24/7 monitoring centers to quickly check AI-detected weapons and relay alerts to local officials.
But Omnilert does not yet have a patent for its technology. And it has not yet been classified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a counterterrorism technology under a 2002 federal law that provides liability protections for companies. It applied for both.
Although Omnilert is present in hundreds of schools, its products are not represented in 30 states, said Mark Franken, Omnilert’s vice president of marketing. However, he said this should not exclude his company from government subsidies.
Franken has contacted the Kansas governor’s office in the hopes that she will veto the specific criteria, which he says “creates sort of an anti-competitive environment.”
In Iowa, legislation requiring schools to install firearm detection software was changed to allow companies that provide the technology to receive federal designation as counterterrorism technology by July 1, 2025. But Democratic Rep. Ross Wilburn said the designation was originally intended as an incentive for companies to develop technology.
“It was not put in place to provide or promote any advantage to any particular company,” Wilburn said during the House debate.
In Kansas, ZeroEyes’ chief strategy officer presented an overview of its technology to the House K-12 Education Budget Committee in February. It included a live demonstration of AI gun detection and numerous actual surveillance photos of guns being spotted in schools, parking lots and transit stations. The presentation also noted that authorities had arrested about a dozen people directly as a result of the ZeroEyes warnings last year.
Kansas state Republican Adam Thomas initially proposed specifically naming ZeroEyes in the funding legislation. The final version removed the company name but retained the criteria, essentially limiting it to ZeroEyes.
House K-12 Budget Committee Chairwoman Kristey Williams, a Republican, vigorously defended the provision. She argued during a bargaining meeting with senators that the state could not afford the delays of a standard bidding process for student safety reasons. She also called the company’s technology unique.
“We don’t believe there was any other alternative,” Williams said last month.
The $5 million in funding won’t cover every school, but Thomas said the amount could be increased later once people see how well the ZeroEyes technology works.
“I hope it does exactly what we’ve seen and prevents gun violence in schools,” Thomas told The Associated Press, “and eventually we can implement it in every school.”
___
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed from Des Moines, Iowa.
